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The government claim their involvement in the project demonstrates their commitment to putting rail users at the heart of their transport policy.

Despite the catalogue of problems, many passengers on board the trains described the service as "very smooth", which means there could be hope for the project yet.

One of the new high speed trains (Image: GWR)

A spokesman for Great Western Railway, said: "The IETs are expected to be running on the network today, testing a number of improvements made overnight to improve the customer experience for passengers.

"We hope to have them back in passenger service as soon as possible. In the meantime HSTs will operate instead of IET trains," he added.